The NEST learning thermostat has some big updates and is back on sale.
In December, a new thermostat came on the market. This normally wouldn’t be exciting news, but in this case the device — called Nest — was from some of the same designers behind the iPod, and the new thermostat promised to “learn” your habits and program itself. (You can read our earlier story on the Nest here.)
The product was such a success it quickly sold out (despite a $250 price tag). Today the company announced it’s back on sale, and has two innovative updates to its software:
A feature called AirWave, which maximizes the perfomance of your air conditioner, a feature that would be welcome in the hot, dry Texas summers. As the Nest website explains, “after your air conditioner turns off, it stays cold for awhile, just like your ice cream stays cold after it comes out of the freezer. Airwave stops your air-conditioner early, then uses the fan to spread cold air from your turned-off compressor through your home.”
You can now see a 10-day view of your energy history that shows you when your system was on and how weather, adjustments or being away from your home changed your energy use.
Gadget guide Harry McCracken applauds the new features. “I still think that Nest has a shot at helping to set off a revolution at least as important as the one launched by the iPod,” he says. You can read some thoughts on the new updates over at Time’s Techland blog.
The Texas drought has improved to levels not seen since over a year ago.
Another week, another update from the U.S. Drought Monitor. And today’s numbers bring some good news for much of the state: Texas is at its lowest levels of drought since more than a year ago.
Nearly 17 percent of the state is now completely drought-free (now including Houston). Compared to the peak of the drought, when 88 percent of Texas was in the worst stage of drought, “exceptional.” And other major cities like Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio are either drought-free or in the lower levels of drought.
But the situation in West Texas continues to be dry, as you can see from the map at the right. Lubbock, Midland and Odessa and their surrounding areas are still in the worst stages of drought. 14 percent of the state is still in “exceptional” drought, a great improvement from last fall and down from 32 percent just three months ago.
And as the levels of drought drop across Central, North and East Texas, water restrictions are being lifted. Kyle, Round Rock, and several cities in North Texas have eased restrictions recently. But not everyone is moving in that direction. Dallas-Fort Worth is considering permanent watering restrictions, drought or not. You can read more about the drought at our new interactive page, Dried Out: Confronting the Texas Drought.
The drought has affected Texans across the state. Haskell Simon, a rice farmer in Bay City, won't have water for his crops this year.
This week we launched a new interactive webpage about the historic Texas drought, Dried Out. The page gives you a visual sense of how intense the drought has been and its impact on the state.
And we want to hear your stories about how the drought has affected you. You can tell us how the drought has affected your business, your home — or your way of life. Send us your stories, photos or videos.
You can email them to news@kut.org, or you can leave a voicemail at (512) 537-SITX (7489). Please include a name and email address or phone number so we can contact you.
Police rescue a dog that belongs to David Lowe’s daughter after a tornado destroyed her home
A resident works to clean up after a tornado damaged his home
April Bridges pauses while digging through the remains of a house she was at when it was destroyed by a tornado
Patricia Daugherty searches for her belongings after her home was destroyed by a tornado on April 3, 2012 in Arlington, Texas
April Bridges searches through the remains of a house she at when it was destroyed by a tornado on April 3, 2012 in Arlington, Texas
David Lowe carries his daughter’s dog, Phoebe, after the dog was rescued from the rubble of a destroyed home
A view of the storm
Multiple tornadoes touched down across the Dallas/Fort Worth area causing extensive damage
Residents search for personal belongings after a tornado destroyed their home
As many as ten tornadoes touched down Tuesday around Dallas-Fort Worth, flattening tanker trucks, throwing trailers in the air and damaging many homes. Several hundred homes have been damaged and at least seven people were injured. You can see a slideshow of some of the people and homes affected above.
The folks at Climate Desk, a collaborative project from several major media groups on the climate, has put together a new multimedia story on why gas prices have been going up lately. You can view the presentation above.
Ocean currents may seem like a far away thing for Texans from the Hill Country to the High Plains, but weather patterns in the seas have an important effect on the state’s climate. The record single-year Texas drought, for instance, was mostly due to back-to-back years of La Niña, a weather pattern where the surface temperatures are cooler in the Pacific, which creates drier, warmer weather in the southern U.S. And those surface temperatures are influenced by ocean currents.
But despite the havoc they wreak, ocean currents and temperatures can be a beautiful thing. Artistic, even. As you can see in a new video by NASA, when you put the data behind ocean currents in motion, it becomes a van Gogh-esque vision.
NASA assembled the video, titled ‘Perpetual Ocean,’ from “ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through December 2007,” according to its webpage. “The visualization does not include a narration or annotations; the goal was to use ocean flow data to create a simple, visceral experience.”
Wastewater from poultry plants contains nitrates which, like fertilizer, are nutrients that can make plants grow
As the poultry industry expanded from it’s original roots in East Texas, communities have also found reasons to be concerned
The industry contends that poultry pollution is not a threat
Environmental groups have been arguing that big, chicken growing operations are indeed point sources of pollution and should be more strictly regulated.
Big poultry plants use millions of gallons of water to clean the chicken carcasses and the plant itself.
Texas is a major player, ranking sixth in the nation for poultry production
Today StateImpact Texas reporter Dave Fehling takes a look at the effects of Texas’ growing poultry industry. Massive farms have brought up concerns about pollution: where all the waste from the chicken plants is going, and what effect its having on Texas waters. Above is a slideshow where you can see some images of “Big Chicken” operations and learn more about their impact on rivers and streams.
Keith Miller set a simple, yet challenging goal for himself a year ago: catch a fish every single day for the entire year. He did it to raise money to help the Junior Hunters and Anglers of America (and, of course, promote fishing) for kids and families. And despite having to endure sickness, drought and extreme weather, Miller achieved that goal on a foggy morning this weekend on the banks of the Brazos River in Waco.
Miller, an associate director of athletics at Baylor University, began his angling odyssey on April, 1 2011. This was the second time Miller completed such a pledge, but it wasn’t easy. He fought through strep throat, a hurt shoulder and twisted ankle, inclement weather and the rigors of a full-time job in order to succeed. And he only used artificial lures to catch the fish. Continue Reading →
It has been dubbed “Big Chicken“: the revolution in how poultry is raised and processed. Chicken that once came from small, family farm operations is now produced by networks of huge chicken-growing complexes and sprawling processing plants.
Texas is a major player, ranking sixth in the nation for poultry production. But with the growth has come concern over how concentrating the operations could increase  pollution: the run-off from tons of manure and the millions of gallons of wastewater released by processing plants into streams and creeks.
StateImpact seeks to inform and engage local communities with broadcast and online news focused on how state government decisions affect your lives. Learn More »
